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Excellent read Moggy, looks like you've been having some fun. You'll have to let me know when your next at croft, ill pop down. Or if your near the south west mid week i could pop along, be nice to see you and check out that car.
I've just sat here and read the whole thing in one go. Something like this really inspires me to start my own track day car project. It just goes to show that you can have lots of fun with a more limited budget, you don't need to spend mega bucks buying a Ferrari 430 Scud.
Got back last night from doing Donnington on Friday Evening and Rockingham on Saturday.
The car now has a passenger seat, a red top battery, bonnet pins and a bit less weight fromremoving various plastic tat from underneath the car. I think Lee may have taken some pics of the car, unfortunately the batteries in my camera went dead after taking the two pics below (continue reading.....)
Donnington Fri Eve
The evening was being run by Circuitdays. For those interested they have a loyalty card where if you do 8 days (or eves) with them you get a 9th trackday free. They seem a relaxed bunch and all things considered were reasonably good.
There were only 24 cars on track which meant we had the track to ourselves We were on track from about 5:30 to 8:30. The track ws dry & the sun was out so we got out money's worth
Early on in the evening we were getting a lot of understeer, so after the advice of someone with far more knowledge than us (use the tyre pressures as well as suspension setup) we took 1 psi out of the rears to take them down from about 26 to 25 psi. This did make a noticeable difference.
The other thing we did, after chatting between us, was to go slower into the corners. This, I would say made us faster and smoother overall. We were getting less trye squeal and seemed to be carrying more speed down the straights. I think finally we are starting to improve our driving technique.
One other thing. There was a bad accident, about 20 mins into the evening. We didn't see it but apparently a BMW 335d had come out of the chicane at the start of the pit straight, gone onto the grass to the right, spun and ended up in the pit wall. We found out he had been chasing his mate in an RS4 avant, who had done the same thing but obviously being in a 4wd went straight on (I've seen a lot of Evo's do the same thing). There was a group of about 6 lads who had turned up together. In the short space of time before the accident we hadn't noticed them on the track but someone else mentioned they were driving like cocks.
To top it all his tool of a mate had apparently blown the gearbox on his RS4. What a pair of bellends.
Here's a couple of pics of the damage before the batteries on my camera ran out.
I noticed he had removed the number plate and I really hope he doesn't try and claim on his insurance.
BTW its quite fun seeing 110 on the clock towing a racecar
Rockingham
Saturday @ Rockingham was run by Bookatrack. As always the day was run very well and there was very courteous driving
It had been raining before the track opened which meant the track was wet from the start. From the tracks I have been on Rockingham is the worst track to drive in the wet. I think one of the reasons is because there is a lot of crap on the track from the drift boys shedding their tyres. Much more difficult to drive than say Oulton Park or Anglesey where with a bit of sense can be driven reasonably well in the wet. On a lot of the infield with almost no throttle and at very low speed the car would not find any grip.
There were dry spells throughout the day and the car exceeded our expectations. Taking some of our experience from the previous night we slowed down entering the corners. It was pretty clear that we had improved our overall speed.
A couple of interesting observations from the circuit. Keep you foot mashed to the floor on the oval. I was really surprised how many people were clearly not doing this, including Porsche Cayman S who I pulled away from on the straight Secondly use the throttle rather than braking through PifPaf & you can carry a lot of speed though there.
Typical Donno, we watched an R33 Skyline(well tracked up and tweaked) do the same thing. It was on the first day they had opened it after the re-surface probably 5 years back!
The above is a write off, he has no hope with the insurance either. Oh dear, unless he had taken out insurance for the day?
Well I passed my ARDS today. Completed at Anglesey which I thoroughly recommend. There was a bad incident there on Friday too, ended up with some guy being cut out of his Locost sounded nasty hope he is ok.
Instructor also mentioned Rockingham is slippy in the wet, something to do with the imported surface by all accounts.
Secondly use the throttle rather than braking through PifPaf & you can carry a lot of speed though there.
